Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Civilization III tips and tricks

I just started playing civilization III and I'm not very good at it. Yet here is where I will aggregate my tips here as time goes on, in the order that I learn things...

CHIEFTAIN LEVELThis version is much harder than version II was. I have "won" by having the most points, but never by building the spaceship or by conquest. My science never gets that advanced. Keep watching that science budget and maximize it. Build lots of income improvements (marketplaces), and libraries. Build as many cities as you can. Don't neglect to build cultural wonders because they can induce other civilizations' cities to defect to your side, and they also help prevent your cities from doing the same.

OK, now I have won by conquest. I had tanks and planes by that time (AD 2030), but still my science lagged about 100 years behind what I wanted. In this version, cash is king. It converts to science well, and hurries production. I have noticed that in the early game, irrigation does NOT yield more food in a square. That's because under despotism there is a cap of two resources of any type from a square. (But once you discover electricity, according to the manual, you can irrigate any square, even one without access to water.)

But roads DO yield cash in a square that had none. So road up everything within your city radius.Always keep an eye on your budget. Military units, ships, workers and settlers all cost money to maintain. Yet, captured enemy workers don't cost anything to maintain. So you can keep your budget down by preserving these and minimizing your use of domestic labor. You might consider going on raiding missions to capture enemy workers.

Until you capture workers from other players, it makes sense to build your own and set them to road building. True, they can cost one gold per turn, however, each road they build in a worked city square generates one gold per turn throughout time. So build enough workers until you capture more. In despotism and monarchy, the workers may not even cost anything to maintain. They only start to cost, I think, under democracy. Even if they did cost at all times, they'd be worth it, for the revenue they generate.

The stacking lines indicate how many units are in a given stack, and you can find out exactly what kinds of units by ctrl-clicking in the stack.

Never trade maps with another civilization. Never trade knowledge. Offer instead to pay gold for maps and knowledge.

At least at Chieftain level your best approach in the early game is to make like a virus and spread as rapidly as possible. If you are peaceful, the other civs at this level do not seem to take advantage of undefended cities you build. But the barbarians will, so make sure to garrison each town lightly. Don't build offensive units and make war, not unless you are absolutely blocked from further expansion by another civ. Ordinarily this will not happen. The idea is to get as big as possible, fill your city radii with roads, and let the income translate into science. Manage your budget on a regular basis, and dial back the science investment so that you are discovering the next advance as fast as possible, but still maintaining income. Sometimes increasing science funding does not make the advance come faster. In the later game, consider deficit spending to spend don a large surplus and translate it into science.

Try to avoid straying into the territory of other nations. However, if you absolutely have to scoot along a portion of coastline that is in someone else's zone, go ahead. They will usually complain, and the trespassing will annoy them, but at this level they rarely go to war over it.

You might try offering small sums of money to selected other civs regularly to improve their attitude toward you.

Remember that shift-P will automate a worker to cleaning up only pollution.

Tanks have the ability to fire automatically against units which move past them. I assume that the computer civs' tanks will do this to our units, but since I've never run up against tanks, I don't know.

Workers cannot build improvements in enemy territory.

Often, if you build a new city on the edge of another civ's territory, you new city will push into the other civ's territory. I once put a city in a narrow space one square wide between cities of two different civs, and it pushed back those other civs one space on each side, so that I had a full square of three by three.

Remember that irrigation can be extended diagonally from a square with water. After Electricity, you can make irrigation anywhere flat.

Aircraft cannot eliminate enemy units, but they can damage them to critical levels. Their missions against cities will increasingly fail as the target city is denuded of improvements to be destroyed.

Cruise missiles can destroy enemy units, but only one at a time. I used one against a stack of 28 riflemen and it eliminated one (1) rifleman. They can be more useful when you use multiples against a city you are besieging.

Using the "Give them some entertainment" option when a city is in disorder is not sufficient to get everyone content. You must zoom to the city and adjust happiness. However, this can usually be automatically done by clicking on the city at the center of the city display. Starvation may result, but at this level, there does not seem to be much adverse consequence of that, in terms of population attitudes.

During a war your population will grow discontented and have to be appeased with entertainers. These do not automatically revert when peace is achieved, so you will need to go through your cities and reassign the entertainers to productive work. The easy way to quickly do this is by clicking on the city icon in the center of the city display.

OK, now I have had a big win at Chieftain level, in which my science at one point was 400 years ahead of historical reality. The key is to build lots of workers, who in turn build roads which generate income. The income is used for science and, sometimes, happiness. This is the key. Follow the other advice here as given, too.

Remain peaceful and don't devote too much to defense until after you are very large and very advanced. You'll probably want to begin planning for an attack once you have Knights. However, Cavalry follows soon on the heels of Knights, so see if you can wait, or else plan to upgrade the Knights to Cavalry right before the attack. When you do attack, try to absorb as many enemy cities as possible in the first turn. Long wars are bad. Short ones are better. Having said that, in the middle and end games, don't wait so long to attack that you allow your enemies to develop stronger units. Strike while the iron is hot.

The game limits the numbers of spaces that any unit can move in foreign territory. This has the effect of slowing down attacks. However, once you take a city, the territory around it becomes passable in the usual manner. In this way, particularly after the development of Modern Armor, you can create a chain of conquests, moving your units up only once the initial city is taken.

"The Long March" -- I have noticed on several occasions that enemy units will appear in large numbers (25 to 100) and march deep into your territory, not just to the nearest city. If you appropriately garrison the apparent target city, the enemy units will often keep marching. You have to figure out what their target might be, and garrison that city as the enemy approaches -- sort of a moving screen. This can be used to your advantage, because units on the Long March are not at home defending the cities you wish to take.

These units often stack in large formations. Because the stacking lines in the display only go so far, there may be far more units in a stack than it appears. So do a ctrl-click on any stacks that appears to have maxed out the stacking lines. It is usually suboptimal to attack units in the field, unless there is some specific positional value, or you are picking off damaged units. It is optimal to use your strength against enemy cities, which provide the cash basis for the units in the field. Reduce the enemy's city base, and the units in the field will dwindle.

Units on a Long March usually head for your weakest city. While you as a human player cannot know how many defenders are in a city (without an espionage mission), the computer does appear to know, because enemy units will Long March toward your weakest point even when that city is far beyond the ability of the enemy to see. When you reinforce the city well enough, the computer also knows this, and the enemy units rarely expend themselves trying to attack. By continually moving your defenders from place to place, you can delay the enemy attack. However, for this to work, you have to keep your roads and rails open. Enemy units will tend to block or pillage your roads and rails, which is why, in peace time, it is good to build roads and rails everywhere possible: backups to the backups. In wartime, consider sending defensive units with workers on missions to rebuild to roads and rails.

WARLORD LEVELSo now I'm moving on to the next level of difficulty, Warlord. My experience so far is limited, but it seems that at this level you get a less favorable initial placement, and your cities are more willing to defect to other civs.

The thing to do at Warrior levels seems to be to remember to build temples, and be mindful that under despotism, garrisons create happiness.

Sometimes it is possible to confuse enemy settlers and delay them from creating a city. I have twice seen instances where if I had a unit of some kind -- a scout for example, blocking the settler as it emerged from a city zone, it would stay in that place for quite a few turns. It could have easily walked around my scout, but didn't. In another case, shown here, I used three units to create a triangular block:

The enemy settler, accompanied by a warrior (shown in green) was trying to get down towards the lower right corner of the image to build a new city. I formed the triple block shown here, and the enemy kept moving the settler and warrior up and down. Each time, I followed with my units. After about 10 iterations, they changed tactics and moved farther South to try to get around my screen. I followed with the screen.

This went on for a number of turns, until I accidentally fumbled the screen and let them through. They came through the gap, but I surrounded them with five units this time and for some reason they went back. I kept up the screen for about 10 turns until I got my own settler down to the empty region and built at city there. At that point the Aztec units continued trying to get past the screen, presumably to get at the unincorporated territory to the rear of my new city. After I built a second city in the unincorporated space, they gave up and went elsewhere. Computers are stupid.

As for research, I usually go for bronze working, then follow the chain to Philosophy (thinking it should pay off with an extra advance like in Civ II -- but I may be wrong about that), and then go for Navigation (so as to build Galleys) and Monarchy (for the productivity benefit).

If one of your cities needs irrigation in order to grow, you can 'steal' water from another civilization, if their irrigation comes up to the border of their territory. Put a worker on the adjacent square and irrigate. Chain it to the desired location.

In one Warlord-level game I was not the most advanced, and likely had no chance at a conquest or spaceship win, but I was the total points leader for a while. By 1405 the French had gained a significant points lead on me and looked likely to maintain it. They had Knights, as did I. They were 'Gracious' towards me, so I gave them wines in exchange for a right of passage agreement. I intended to load eight Knights onto my four Galleys and approach Paris, which was quite a hike inland. I intended to attack Paris in hopes of obtaining the Sistine Chapel and putting the French in second place.

Their lead in points had been 61 in 1405, and by 1565 their lead had grown to 120 points. The 12 Knights and a musket that I stationed right up next to Paris would have been a dead giveaway to any human. The French by this point had Riflemen and I did not. Every doctrine said do not attack, but I did. The city was defended by three muskets and a pikeman. I took it on the first turn in 1560, and garrisoned with three full-strength units, and seven deeply damaged units. Russia and England declared war on me and the people who had grinned at me now wore doubtful expressions; everyone else glowered in fury. France's point lead increased to 123. They had Cavalry and were starting to build a railroad around Paris. Three of my smaller cities were quickly taken or destroyed. Almost all of my other cities rioted on the turn after the French response. But the small city on my home island that they took reverted back to me of its own will. In 1590 all three warring states refused to acknowledge my envoy.

In 1615, after I had lost two or three more outlying cities, and the French and English had worn Paris down to where they easily could have taken it the next turn, all warring parties came to terms, though the Russians and English required and additional 200 gold each. They had demanded knowledge, and I increased the gold to buy them off. The French lead in points had increased to 138.

I believe that I may be placing my cities too far apart. Allowing for the maximum worked city radius of two spaces, I had been placing them five spaces apart. However, with 19 cities in 1615 AD, the average city population was only 6.10. The average city population of 6.1 is not even enough to fill up the eight spaces immediately surrounding a city. While four of my cities have a population of 12, many do not.

If I were to place the cities three spaces apart, I'd have more cities and a larger over all population.

In the Warlord-level game described above, though the French point lead was growing, I decided to remain peaceful for the rest of the game and concentrate on cultural, economic, and scientific development. I comforted myself with the thought that as long as you're peaceful, other nations rarely attack you. That same turn, 1720, the English attacked. They took Paris and another city and at that point I retired.

*

In my next Warlord-level game I set all factors to random, including barbarians. I immediately set the science research dial so that I'd break even on income and discover bronze working in 24 turns not 36. I decided to then go for alphabet, writing and literature, because writing enables embassies with other civs, and literature enables building libraries.

Every time I got an advance, and often in between, I checked the budget and research pace.

In my first city, after the warrior was complete, I set to work on a granary. This slightly delayed the first settler, but hopefully would lead to more settler later. I used the warrior to explore, thus leaving Washington undefended. Either the barbarians would arrive and take it, or they would not. If they did, I could abandon the game and start another.

I began building my cities three spaces apart at most, to achieve a higher density.

I had three cities but was reported to be the least happy. That's leads to defections, so I had Washington start a temple. Then New York.

I decided on Oracle as my first wonder, for the happiness boost, rather than Pyramids.

After literature I sought map making. Though this was not an island world, there would have to be some use for ships.

After the founding of the cities I usually start building a temple while waiting for the population to build up to the point that it could produce a settler.

Oddly enough, after eight barbarian horsemen appeared and ransacked my city of population one, it was neither destroyed nor taken. I still owned it, though the production has restarted.

As of 170 AD I was in first place, with China only points behind. I completed the Oracle at this time. Then I went for Theology because it enables the Sistine Chapel.

The Chinese got the Pyramids and the Zulus got the Great Library. I had to settle for Great Wall. The Romans complete the Great Lighthouse. The Chinese are catching up to me in points. Hmm.

By AD 930 the Chinese were even on points, but I had picked up two cities by defection, one from Japan and one from the Zulus. I was building culture, income, and library assets while working on wonders and settling more cities. That's all I could do, it seems.

The Chinese went two points ahead of me and I picked up another city from the Zulus.

I picked up two more Zulu cities by 1110 AD and the Chinese were ahead by 10 points.

BY 1290 we got another Japanese city and built Sistine Chapel, but the Chinese built Leonardo's Workshop. However they were still only 10 points ahead. I completed Sun Tzu in 1295 and at that point their lead was reduced to nine points. Meanwhile I had been investing heavily in marketplaces, libraries, a university, and temples and cathedrals. I began doing infill cities within my perimeter.

In 1345 an Aztec city defected to me and the Chinese were only eight points ahead. Generally after a city defects I set it to building a temple, and make sure it's on my road network. It picked up another Aztec city in 1355, Another civ's city is more likely to defect if it is not near to one or more of your cities, and surrounding one with your cities, one that is not connected by road back to its empire, is best.

These same conditions are dangerous for you, so connect everything by road and be mindful that under monarchy you can get up to three happy faces from garrisoned units.

By 1410 I was a democracy, the Chinese were only five points ahead, and I had unit costs of 56. In 1515 the Chinese were one point ahead.

1590 finds me one point ahead of China. Other powers build Smith, Magellan and Shakespeare. China built Smith. In 1605 the Chinese completed JS Bach and I was two points ahead of them. By 1660 I was building railroads and ahead of China by six points. By 1700 the rails were nearly complete and we were 14 points ahead of China.

I have been using settlers to build cities which progressively push back territory of other civs. This sequence show that the new city took two squares from the Aztecs and one from the Zulu.

Before:After:

In 1735, all of the other countries were democracies like me, and all were building universal suffrage. Two were also building theory of evolution. I had only just started building factories, so I started suffrage in my most productive city, then built forest around it until it reached zero growth. The anticipated time came down from 77 to 56 turns. But in 1785 the Chinese completed it first. I was 24 points ahead of them.

In 1766 I note that the Chinese have infantry, which I don't. The y already have Communism, Corporation, Replaceable Parts, and Electronics. They've started Hoover Dam. I pay 425 gold plus 10 per turn and silks, to get replaceable parts. Now I can build and upgrade to infantry. In 1774 China completes Theory of Evolution.

By 1814 I had mechanized transport and was about to get flight. But several powers already had flight and China had one better -- mech infantry.

It's 1826 and I am in no position to lash out militarily at the other powers. So, since my technology is ahead of historical reality, I'll see if I can build that spaceship. I'll reduce my military and pour resources into science. I'll keep a decent force on hand, but some cities in the center of the empire will be without garrisons.

In 1834 the Chinese complete Hoover Dam. The thing is, the other civs will no doubt get space flight when I do, and China can now build the spaceship components faster than I can, due to the dam. I wonder if, in this version, you can destroy the other civs' spaceships by taking their capitol? The manual says yes -- but only talks about destroying it while on the launch pad. In the previous version you still had a period after launch when you could do it. In this version, you can't even see the other civs' spaceships without having spies on them.

I guess there is a limit to intrusive city building, because in 1844 after I built a city that took a big bite out of Zululand, they declared war on us. They took all four of my workers and quickly captured the city. I get a mutual protection pact and right of passage with China for silks. Hopefully they will engage the Zulu. I strip the interior in order to reinforce the Zulu border. Japan and Rome join the Zulu in a trade embargo against me, and China declares war on the Zulu. Hopefully they will weaken each other. India declares war on China. I switch to wartime mobilization.

In 1856 a large number of Chinese units including mech infantry arrive at the point of Zulu attack. The Aztecs declare war on China. I am informed that because of the Indian war against China, I am obliged by our mutual defense pact to declare against India. It must have happened automatically because huge Indian forces quickly take two of my cities.

In 1850 Rome declared war on China and the Indians took three more of my cities. It's weird to watch another power defend you on your own territory. The Chinese are effective against the Zulu at the point of attack, but they have not shown up against the Indians, and the Zulu raiders are advancing on my ungarrisoned cities that I stripped to defend the border.

In 1852 The Indians took two more of my cities, despite the newly minted tank I sent to defend. The Iroquois and Japan declared war on China. This puts us at war with the Iroquois too. Their infantry and mech infantry arrive in astounded quantities near Washington. The Aztecs jump in against China as well, bringing us to war with them too. In 1854 Rome declares war on us when we try to attack one of the incoming Indian units. Japan attacks China which brings us to war with them. They take two cities. So much for the peaceful approach to this game! The Iroquois destroy Washington and take New York and six other cities.

I was still 40 points in the lead, but all six warring parties refused to acknowledge my envoy, so I retired.

Despite this sad result, the utility of placing cities three squares apart is proven, because my science was quite viable as a result. But maybe you should check the mood of another power before you build an intrusive city.

***

I have won at Warlord level, sort of. I got tired of so many losses in which I seemed to be doing well and then everyone ganged up on me or suddenly pulled ahead in science. So I created a pangea game where my only opponent was India. You'd think this would be an early walkover and I did too. I had twice as many cities and hemmed them in to where they had no access to coal or rubber, hence they could not build infantry. Nonetheless they did very well in science and were allowed to build HUGE stacks of units. For example, when I had them down to just one city at the end, they still had a stack of 33 riflemen wandering in my back yard.

Also, they frequently caused my cities to desert to their side.

In this game I saw how anarchy is used as the main weapon against the human player. During any war, the computer AI coyly refuses to acknowledge your envoy until you fall into anarchy. Then all science and all building stop.

What I did to address this was turn off my science in 1990 and use the excess cash to buy completion of tanks. I estimated that I'd need four tanks per enemy city, of which there were 26. That's 104 tanks. I achieved this by 2026. The idea was that even if I fell into anarchy, I'd have still enough units to eliminate the enemy. I attacked in 2026, fell into anarchy, and eliminated the Indians by 2036. At the end, I had 84 tanks, 79 mech infantry, and 96 infantry. Almost all the casualties in this period were tanks (20), and the overage indicates that I overestimated the number needed. Probably I could have done it with three tanks per city, or 78.

I had never before understood the option "We don't want it -- raze the city!" which is given when you take a city. But in this game I used it several times towards the end. The reason was that the cities I took from the Indians were defecting back to them almost a fast as I took them. This, despite the fact that I had a huge number of luxuries, and equal culture score, and connected all the cities by road. Razing the cities prevented them from defecting back.

Not a 'real' win, but satisfying, at this frustrating level.

***

Chose an archipelago, temperate, normal-sized, five-billion-year-old world -- with only two opponents, random. Set research high to spend down excess from barbarian income, yet still the English were more advanced before I had built out my island. I went for mapmaking after bronze working so as to get ships and start on the Lighthouse. Perhaps I should have bypassed bronze-working to go for mapmaking? In any case, after that I went for writing so as to get libraries.

In 410 BC I finished the Lighthouse, and by that time had a colony on a new island. Had to dial back science to 70 percent. Had two workers roading and irrigating heavily.

370 BC Having the Lighthouse was good, because I immediately found a third island.

310 BC We completed the Pyramids. But it only helps the island on which it was built.

210 BC I built my second off-island city and expected something bad to happen soon, since things seemed to be going well.

30 BC India completed the Oracle 59 turns before we would have.

150 We became a monarchy and discovered a fourth island.

570 I located an English island.

590 The English had no new technology, and I bought their territory map for 75 gold. They had 15 cities to my 22, and the island I found is secondary to their main island but near enough to be reachable without the Lighthouse. I had bought two harbors on secondary islands, and built one at home.

660 The only iron I had was on colony islands, and I built a city next to one deposit and thereafter could build swordsmen and pikemen, due to the harbor system. Indian island located. We completed the Hanging Gardens, which would help on the happiness front. Massive barbarian uprising reported near St. Louis.

680 India also had no new technology. Good. To meet the barbarian uprising, I disbanded one warrior and two workers to be able to afford a pikeman to go with my spearman and warrior.

740 I found two new islands, colonized one.

810 We completed Great Library. Discovered two more, small islands, and started to settle and clear the jungle areas on the large northwest island.

1030 We were listed as largest, with India and England trailing in that order.

1130 The only saltpeter was likewise in the colonies, and I discovered and built on a new medium-sized island. My plan at that point was to build settlers and complete the islands I was on, build a quick reaction force of offensive units in case anyone should attack me, and continue building scientific and economic improvements while going toward democracy and railroads.

1220 India appeared to be building a lot of culture, so we started an extra cathedral and temple. The military advisor said we have a strong military compared to England but only an average one compared to India.

1230 India had chivalry and we didn't.

1325 India completed Sun Tzu two turns before we would have.

1340 The English complete Sistine Chapel 22 turns before we would have.

1435 Observed Indian galley floating in the open ocean, not just the sea, for two turns. So much for the rules.

1495 We became a democracy and England completed Leonardo 29 turns before we would have. Brought the garrisons down to one per city except for Washington, reduced science funding to 60 percent, got to a surplus budget.

1510 Out of nowhere the English declared war on us. I thought: They're bound to have masses of units and they'll likely swamp me on the island where I have three cities adjacent to theirs. Scaled back science to 40 percent to enable buying better defensive units on the shared island. Expected Indian science to surge ahead, which was the point of this war.

1525 traded some luxuries and cash to India to get the two new advances they had, established an embassy with them and gave more luxuries to get them to declare war on England.

1580 Only two English warriors ever attacked me, and I finally got the idea to make peace with England. India was still at war with them. India completed JS Bach 46 turns before we would have.

1585 India and England made peace.

1600 India completed Newton's University 13 turns before we would have.

Look at the geography before you build a city. Your city might block your ability to bring irrigation into an area.

1680 We were listed as the most advanced, with India and England coming in behind in that order.

1705 I'd had steam power for a few turns before I noted that the only coal existed in only one location in my territory, near the saltpeter in the Northwest island.

1725 India and England were both still republics, and compared to each, the military advisor said we were weak.

1820 The railroads were completed. My science and economic development were going well, but this was the point in the game where the computer typically launches a large military assault. Given the distributed nature of the land masses, it would be difficult to build and preposition reaction forces. While not playing, I decided that the thing to do for defense is put a force on each of my three major islands of five surplus defensive units, plus five on the island shared with the English, plus three each on two other islands. I should also have four offensive units with which to attempt to take an enemy city. That would be 30 units, and quite a burden, but not impossible to bear. I hoped that when I was attacked, I would be able to move the surplus stack of five into the target city and frustrate the attacker while my offensive units picked off one of his cities. I would seek to build science, my economy and productivity towards the spaceship.

1834 Though I was the first democracy, England completed Universal Suffrage 32 turns before we would have. India and England were both still republics at that point.

1848 I discovered electronics but could not start Hoover Dam because I had no cities with rivers in the radius. The Indians did. I traded saltpeter to India for their world map and the corporation. This will enable them to build riflemen, but only for 20 turns. India had a view of the ENTIRE world, so that was good to get.

The saltpeter deal will last until 1868. While India appears to have no saltpeter, England does have some at Warwick. There were no new unexplored islands with rivers to colonize. Only India appeared to have rivers.

1854 I got replaceable parts and then could build infantry. From seeing the coal England had, and their spices and iron, in the world map I got from India, I know this:

As long as you have discovered the advance that makes them visible, one CAN see resources that other players have, even if you haven't visited that area.

And I saw that India had iron but no saltpeter, coal, or rubber. They had by this time built cavalry, presumably using our saltpeter. The only two rubber deposits I saw were on our northeast large island, and on one small island we shared with the English. This should present problems for the other civs in building advanced units. I needed to reinforce that small island to prevent a grab. I sent the three ironclads to the small island and hurried another rifleman to cover the resource.

1864 Quite predictably in retrospect, in this turn the English built a new city to include my rubber deposit on the small island, which had been in MY sphere. Now I faced the choice of either going to war to secure the island, or somehow get the rubber back culturally. Immediate trade talks indicated that they already had replaceable parts. I saw an English infantry unit in the field. It looked like war would be inevitable. I began to prepare. England and India had right of passage but not mutual defense. England was still polite towards us.

You can plant a forest thinking it will increase production, but all the new shields go to corruption.

1870 They demanded my troops move out, but they agreed to a right of passage. I planned to set them up.

Neither of their cities on the small island was a port, and port symbols are shown for other civs' ports, and the infantry they had was on another island. So how did they transport the rubber there? I looked again for more rubber in the game, and I found it right above Canterbury.

So I almost went to war to deprive them of something they would have had regardless.

On second thought, on the small island was an EXTRA rubber deposit, that they would become able to share with India, once they built a port. And England had attacked me once already. It may not have been the wisest move, but I decided to attack anyway, and hopefully secure the extra rubber and end the war without losses. Of course, most resources in this game do tend to vanish from one place and then appear in another (e.g. iron, coal, oil, uranium), so I would not be surprised if new rubber appeared for other civs as soon as I took this one. I also planned to make plans to take the one near Canterbury, though knowing that it would be extremely difficult.

1874 I attacked and destroyed one city while not obtaining the one that covers the rubber.

1876 I obtained the second city on the small island, and England refused to acknowledge my envoy. I withstood the initial English counterattack on the shared island.

1888 English attacks were fairly weak. I piled up several infantry and a cavalry against an English city on the shared island and contacted them. They agreed to peace.

It may be that the computer AIs can be brought to the table if you appear to be on the verge of taking one of their cities.

The Indians were annoyed with me, so I gave them a gift of 13 gold.

1892 A resource survey showed just that rubber north of Canterbury for the English, plus an oil for the Indians. One cannot build a city next to a city (Canterbury), but perhaps if I placed units on the rubber and then built a city (no room for two) next to the rubber, I might encompass it? That's a lot of war for something that may move around.

1904 Neither the Indians nor the English had any technology that we didn't. I continued giving India 13 gold every now and then, and gave England 13 too.

I balanced my budget at 70 science, and maintained reaction forces of less than five extra per island. At this point I planned to continue with economic, cultural and science improvements, and slowly build up a force of 14 infantry and one settler to drop on the Canterbury rubber supply.

1907 Completed theory of evolution which jumped us through motorized transport. Began building tanks.

1912 The plan became to take Canterbury by force rather than build next to it. Resource survey still showed no rubber for India. Their best unit was cavalry.

Galleons (ships) do not upgrade unless they're in a port.

1912 Began building another transport. Gave the annoyed Indians 13 more gold, but out of nowhere they declared war on us. Uh-oh. They had a huge stack of riflemen and cavalry already next to our port city on a shared island. I didn't notice that. The city was razed. They also stole two workers on the island shared with the English, again having arrived without me noticing.

It's useful to keep at least one unit awake on each island, to be aware of attacks in the offing

1914 Had to turn science down to 60 percent.

1916 Indians refused our envoy.

1918 They took another city on a different minor shared island, razed a city on a shared island, and razed a city on a small shared island, removing me from that island. Their dice were very good.

1920 War weariness started, striking 80 percent of cities in same turn. Turned science down to 30 percent and happiness up to 20 percent.

1924 India refused our envoy. The English were willing to come in against the Indians if I gave them luxuries and Combustion. Could not find a place in the manual where advances are discussed, so I canceled the talks to look at the civilopedia. When I came back to the talks England wanted the same package plus free artistry. I was not willing to give them Combustion because it enables destroyers and transports. England and India signed a trade pact against me.

1928 I give England Mass Production and Free Artistry and they ended the embargo and declared war on India. India refused our envoy.

1929 India took a second city on the shared island. One left to go, and they concentrated their huge navy there and landed eight riflemen.

1930 England wanted a mutual protection pact and I agreed. We were thrown into anarchy.

1932 India took the third and final city on the shared island. Since the island with the rubber that I took from England was near, I assumed India would go there next. I hoped to deliver a tank to that island to make things harder for them.

1938 We come out of anarchy and I choose to go to Communism, hoping to reduce war weariness. After I groomed all my cities, I was able to put science at 60 percent with a net of 17 gold per turn. Indian fleets were arriving off the west coast or my northwest island, and off the east coast of my southern, cold island.

1940 India showed a transport, and landed units on southern island. My tank was on that island, preparing to ship out. I completed one destroyers but became unable to build any more, because Indian ships had destroyed the road that lead to my only oil source. Oddly, India acknowledged my envoy and agreed to peace. I reclaimed the oil.

1944 The only other source of oil I saw is on India's main island. If I took that, they might hurt.

1946 India attacked our brothers in England and our mutual protection pact required that we go to war. India and England were ALREADY at war, but I guess India consummated it. India immediately took a city on the southern island, near the oil.

1948 With that unerring judgment and those great dice, India took a second city on the southern oil island. We used our tanks to take back both cities on the southern island. India refused our envoy. I should have contacted them just before I was going to take the city.

1950 I spent several days not playing the game. But ... it's just a game, so there was no reason not to play it playfully. At this point, whatever I did would likely win or lose the game. I planned to load several infantry and a settler on whatever transport(s) I had, and send them stacked with a destroyer and a screen of ironclads to build a city on top of the only Indian oil resource. The Indians completed Hoover Dam. England was in anarchy (so it does happens to the AIs, but maybe only the ones on your side). India was communist, too. India's transport (defense value 4) almost sank my ironclad. I turned off my science completely for a couple of turns in order to generate cash for upgrades. I switched to wartime mobilization.

1954 Turned research back on. India landed some dregs on my northwest Island, spearmen and longbowmen. My tanks kill two spearmen and one of their longbows miraculously killed my infantry.

1959 India and England inked peace treaty. We did the same. Our mutual defense pact with England from 1930 lingered on. The invasion force of two transports, one destroyer, three ironclads, and 13 assorted tanks and infantry, plus the settler, was on its way to the Indian oil.

1961 England canceled the mutual protection pact.

1962 Task force ships came within range of insertion point on Indian coast. Resource survey showed no coal for India, and no oil other than the targeted one.

1963 India and England were both furious with me but did not have a defense pact. I landed the task force and sank a frigate with an ironclad. Their riflemen almost destroyed one infantry and one tank.

1964 Their rifleman easily destroys a healthy tank, and another picks off the critically injured tank.

1965 India landed in English territory though not at war with England and having no ROP or MPP agreement. My transports and destroyer got away from the insertion point but I lost both ironclads the went with the TF. The TF reached the target square.

1966 Built the city on the Indian oil square. I defended it with nine infantry and several tanks. The Indian main island in the area of operation featured plenty of railroads, despite the lack of coal. Resource survey revealed new oil right on the long vertical island India took from me. Maybe the game compensates by issuing a new discovery of a resource when an AI loses it? We hurried a settler and made a quick plan to build a city on the new oil, which was at that point just outside the range of an Indian city.

The transport and destroyer of the second task force parked right next to an enemy ironclad, but within range on the insertion point on the target island.

1968 Four infantry and two tanks landed with the settler on the target oil square. We built a city called "Iraq." Resource survey showed no new oil for India or England.

1969 India had been losing a steady trickle of riflemen and dregs in the first oil city "Kuwait" and landed several ineffectual counterattacks on my various islands. Their destroyer did sink my destroyer protecting the return of the transport from the second oil city "Iraq," but the transport was not attacked.

1970 We stupidly took an undefended city on the Iraq island rather than parking next to it and calling for peace. But it does give our transports on northwest island a safe route to Iraq island, within their range. Resource survey shows no new oil.

1971 If you attack a stack of ships, such as a frigate and an ironclad, the frigate fires a defensive salvo against you before you engage the ironclad. I rushed a destroyer on the northwest island to deal with persistent artillery from the sea.

1972 I had attacked with two tanks out of Kuwait. Through the miracle of good dice, a lone longbowman destroyed one full-strength tank, while a rifleman picked off the damaged one. Through the miracle of good dice, a lone Indian rifleman captured the southern city on the northwest island. I immediately took it back with a tank, sinking the destroyer they had placed in it.

1973 Reinforced southern city of Iraq island using two infantry brought by the transport, sent tank north to menace Indian city. They refused my envoy.

1974 I only in this year realized that there was also a safe transport distance between northwest and northeast island. So all my main islands were within safe transport distance, including southern oil island, which I reinforced after some attacks by India. I had three transports, which was almost enough for the four routes possible. India had an impressive navy.

1977 The game very neatly determined how to solve the problem of Kuwait taking oil from the Indians, by having the city defect to India. I lost all the units in it, and the oil, on which I built a nice city for them.

If I had listened to my own advice, I would have had major units station just outside the city, to enable a recapture. I decided to cheat by using an auto-save from the turn before the defection, in which I evacuated the city of all but three infantry. Because I am learning, I fully admit that I cheated.

Oddly enough, after the cheat the city did not defect. Perhaps because the units were stacked up against the nearest Indian city, thus having an effect on contentment? But a lone longbowman miraculously killed my elite infantry in the city.

1981 The score is US: 1214, India: 1085, England: 769. It would take 19 turns just to get rocketry. Unless I went democratic (and India did not attack, throwing me into anarchy)? In any case, it looked unlikely that I'd start (or finish) the spaceship by 2040 or so. So since a military win was out of the question, holding out for points seemed the way to go.

The risk of war was quite high, for these reasons:

- The oil cities were at risk of defecting- New oil may have appeared- India or England might have attacked.

Since war seemed so likely, switching to democracy seemed not worth the period of anarchy, followed by the anarchy bought on by the predictable war.

I planned to have task forces ready in the ocean to deal with these contingencies. One task force would be positioned to take the city which had Hoover Dam (Delhi). My external units in Kuwait were within striking distance of Delhi, so I decided to have some of them strike Delhi when hostilities resumed.

Because there was no spare land next to Iraq in which to base the city's excess units (thus protecting them from defection), I had to place them in a transport ready to move in. Having that southern city seemed advantageous.

1984 Resource survey showed no new oil.

1986 Compared to democratic England and Communist India, we had an average military. We paid England 275 for espionage, and started building our agency.

1988 The Indians declared war. They spent seven rifles and three longbow attacking Kuwait and damaged but did not kill the defenders. RSSNNO.

1989 We advanced one city up the pencil island with Iraq, scuttling a destroyer and transport when we took the city.

1991 Because I did not reinforce against their landing of four rifles, they razed one city on the northeast island. The lesson is:

Always move units to reinforce.

1992 My attempt to take Hoover Dam at Delhi was a complete bust, several units lost, and I looked to be on the verge of losing Kuwait. Kuwait defected to India, giving them oil. The few remaining infantry I had headed for Kuwait, hoping to retake it. Attacking Delhi with the Kuwait reserves was a major mistake on my part.

1993 English infantry entered my zone on the shared island. England had no special agreements with India.

1993 The English declared war on us.

1994 We acquired a third city on the pencil Iraq island, from India.

1995 We regained Kuwait from India, but just barely. They seemed able to take it, with their usual good dice. And then there was always defection.

1996 India and England refused my envoys. Amazingly, the English city on my northeast island was ungarrisoned. so I took it and scuttled the ironclad. The fact that I had just tried to talk with the English when my units were next to this city indicates that the threat of losing a city does not bring the AIs to the table. India razed Kuwait, the oil city. The scores are USA 1242 India 1108 England 788.

1997 Enemy ironclads sank two of my full-strength destroyers and almost sank an 80-percent battleship. My plan was to try to transport some infantry and tanks to rebuild and hold Kuwait.

1997 I tricked myself but putting a wounded infantry in a city with a worker on northeast island, which due to the stacking bars made me think it was defended. The enemy knows where the weak points are and took the city.

1999 An enemy bomber (requiring oil to build) bombed a square on my southern oil island, within the operational range from the nearest enemy city. I transferred my fighter and set it on an air superiority mission. I discovered rocketry and aluminum appeared on my southern oil island. Resource survey showed aluminum near Newcastle, but none for India. Oil was distributed the same as previously.

2000 We retook the city on northeast island and were forming up the task force to Kuwait. We took one of the English cities on the shared island. England agreed to peace. India refused the envoy. We switched to wartime mobilization.

2001 My new battleship attacked an Indian destroyer and quickly sank. The first Indian battleship showed up.

2002 My destroyer sank a transport that it had exposed on turn prior by sinking the ironclad escort.

2003 I stripped all my reserves on the three main islands for the Kuwait task force. I left a city without a garrison, and the Indians unerringly showed up and landed four rifles next to it. I garrisoned and reinforced. Oddly, India agreed to peace. We bought sanitation from the English for 300 gold. The Kuwait task forced sailed. India had no new technology. Resource survey showed no changes.

2006 Had to accept war with India due to my forces landing near Kuwait (despite that they still had four rifles next to one of my cities). Near Kuwait they spent four rifles and two longbow weakening but not killing my infantry. On northwest island their rifle rapidly killed an infantry in a city, but they lost a longbow. I assumed that no infantry, tanks, or mech infantry showed up because all of these require rubber.

2007 I let a tank stray ahead of the infantry in Kuwait and a bomber hit it and a rifle blew it up.

2009 Rebuilt Kuwait on Indian oil square.

2010 My aluminum on southern island was gone, so I could no longer build F-15s. One was in the works. Resource survey showed no aluminum for anyone on any island. Puzzling.

2011 At Kuwait, India hit us with four bombers at once, so they had at least that many. Who knew how many planes, battleships and destroyers were in the works. I decided to transfer my fighter there and run an AS mission, which I've never seen in action. Two Indian ironclads sank my new destroyer. A battleship sank a second one.

2012 Indian bombers weakened my battleship and their battleship sank it, exposing the transport, which dropped the two new infantry new Kuwait and was sunk.

Scores were USA 1270, India 1130, England 804.

2013 Bombers weakened the infantry, and one was killed by rifles.

2014 Indians refuse envoy.

2015 The way AS missions work is this: The city being bombed gets bombed as usual, then your fighter passes over the city too, and you notice a little sign that says "Our interceptor was shot down!" Both of the infantry I brought on the latest run were killed.

2016 Indians refused the envoy. I send my F-15 to Kuwait and set it to AS. The sign was "We intercepted an enemy!" I wondered if this means the enemy lost a bomber.

2019 Enemy rifles killed an infantry in Kuwait, so I pulled one back in from the surrounding force. The F-15 was awake, so I guessed I am required to set it to AS again.

The main purpose of enemy ships in war is to blow up your improvements.

2020 Our F-15 was shot down, presumedly by that big bad B-17.

2021 We got a little frustrated and attacked Madras, the port near Kuwait, taking it at the cost of two tanks, but scuttling the battleship they had there. India agrees to peace. My working theory is that they are more likely to come to terms after you hurt them. The reinforcement convoy arrived and the units deployed.

2024 Madras defected right back to India, and I lose a tank and an infantry to that. I decide not to reclaim the city using the external units, but instead to arrange them around Kuwait.

2025 We completed our intelligence agency. In all the games I've played, I've never, ever been able to successfully plant a spy. They always get caught. I'll try this time.

2029 We spend 800 of our gold to upgrade 20 infantry to mech infantry. But it only occurred in cities with barracks, AFICT, which is odd. The system said I succeeded in placing an agent in Delhi.

2031 It looked like I should be able to end the game with the most points (1301 1153 822). My income was negative three per turn, and I was within the allowed number of units, so I added tax collectors. I ran an espionage mission from the "E" symbol in the status display. I chose to spend 196 gold to expose any Indian spy. The game very neatly handled this attempt by saying the operation failed, "blowing our spy's cover," and that Ghandi is threatening retaliation. We then had only the standard espionage actions menu against India, so indeed our spy in Delhi was gone. I try to place her twice more at a cost of 78 each attempt, and she was always "caught and killed." I like this espionage feature a lot. Suddenly we were netting negative 18 per turn, with no explanation given. I turned off science, and increased happiness to 10 percent to net +195.

2033 I tried to place a spy with India. Caught and killed. I tried to place a spy with England. Caught and killed.

2034 We placed an agent in Delhi. I have nowhere near enough gold to run a mission.

2040 For no good reason I chose a revolution, to become a democracy again by game end.

2041 Kuwait defected, so maybe going into anarchy was NOT a good idea. I saw no point in attacking to retake the oil, because there were only eight turns left in the game, and India would not be able to make use of the oil in such a short span of time.

2042 When Ghandi barked , our troops were automatically moved to northwest island, from when they had embarked, which was the closest American land available. Scores: 1322, 1169, 824. Spy missions cannot be run during anarchy.

2044 We became a democracy at net 350 per turn. The prices to run a troop position spy mission on India increased dramatically, and I accidentally hit OK when meaning to cancel. The cheapest mission was run and the 1700+ gold wasted, and Ghandi was peeved. Also, when the mission fails, the spy is lost. I knew this because the espionage menu reduced to the normal options.

2049 All quiet.

2050 I am the "victor" with 1333 points. "Clinton the Terrible."

***

In my next Warlord game I chose a tiny world of random configuration and random barbarian level, plus the full complement of three random opponents. So I was not "going easy" on myself.

The village next to my first city was abandoned. I set science to 100 percent.

3950 BC The world appeared to be either pangea or to have large continents, so I went for bronze working not mapmaking.

Rome was only seven spaces from Washington. The Aztecs were six spaces away and the Iroquois were up north somewhere.

2900 BC We conquered Rome and eliminated them as a civ. Their city had only one warrior as a defender. We captured a settler which transformed into two workers.

2630 BC My troops took the Aztec capitol, which had only one defender, plus a worker and a settler, which also did the split trick.

2390 BC There were some peninsulas and islands in this game. I thought I was advancing on the Iroquois, but the geography confounded me and I had to double back.

2310 BC I took the time to build a barracks in Washington, in order to produce veteran units.

2070 The Iroquois had more than one city, and when I arrived next to one of them with two archers and two warriors, it had at least one spearman in it. I went to war and lost one archer but was able to obtain the city.

1950 BC They built another city not far from Rome and it was defended by a warrior. I was unwilling to attack with the single spearman I had next to it. I determined to wait for an archer. We had seven workers, six of them captured. A settler from Washington was headed to an open spot.

1870 BC We made peace with the Iroquios, then paid them 50 gold for mysticism.

1790 BC Geography and diplomacy indicated that the Iroquios only had two cities. My road to their capitol was nearly complete.

1625 BC We discovered iron working, and the iron deposits were near Washington and up near the Iroquios capitol, near my road, so I began a settler in Washington. I had a complete road network linking all my cities.

1475 BC We sent our troops into both Iroquios city zones and declared war.

1450 BC We destroyed the secondary city. And with heavy losses we took their capitol.

1425 BC The game informed me that it was a conquest victory. It gave me a score of 7037, my highest ever, and proclaimed me "Clinton the Magnificent." The end-of-game display showed that there were perhaps 12 islands in the map:

But all civs started on my continent, the largest one, and the other islands never came into play.

This is my first legitmate win at Warlord level, no cheating and no going easy on myself. One thing that appears to have helped was that there were no barbarians at all. I had set that to random.

Maybe choosing a smaller map size makes things easier.

I've started several more tiny-map games at Warlord level, and they are not easier. I must have gotten lucky with that first one. But they do have the advantage that you can tell pretty quickly whether you have a chance to win. You'll encounter other civs rapidly, and when you do, it's best to attack them immediately. If the dice are with you, you eliminate that civ and have a chance at winning. If you don't take the city, you're in for a world of pain and you can abandon the game early.

There is a notable phenomenon that you must expect. If you put some units next to an enemy capitol early in the game, and the capitol is defended by a warrior, and you declare war, the best defender shown immediately becomes a spearman.

Sometimes the game is really amusing. Take for example the time that a critically injured swordsman on open ground killed three full-strength swordsmen that attacked it.

***

In my fifth warlord win, and I came close to winning by spaceship. During the middle of the game I stupidly chose an unnecessary period of anarchy, which slowed my research a bit. I also probably should have invested more in libraries an universities at an earlier point.

The game started like this:

I rapidly eliminated France (pink). Because I built the Lighthouse, I was the only one that could reach the island on the right, beneath the purple one (Iroquois).

I pushed around the Japanese (green) pretty badly:

Then eliminated them:

I launched an unprovoked unilateral war of aggression against the Iroquois:

I made peace with the Iroquois and held this position while trying to complete the spaceship:

I completed several spaceship components but would not have finished by 2050, so in 2042 I eliminated the Iroquois.

Although a careful reading of the manual indicates that the only factors involved in combat are the attack strength of the attacker and the terrain-modified defense strength of the defender, experience indicates that the terrain the attacker is on matters also. Attacking from a mountain to flat terrain seems to help protect the attacker from the blows of the defender.

Once in a while you will encounter an ungarrisoned enemy capitol at the start of the game. Take it. I did this to the Zulu once, and because they had a settler on the loose, their civilization did not vanish until I captured the settler.

The space ship appears to be exceedingly hard to achieve in Warlord level. I played a game on a tiny board and quickly eliminated the Zulus and Greeks, then settled in to grind down the Iroquois while paying particular attention, at an early date, to advancing my science through funding and through libraries and universities. I had more than enough industrial capacity to complete all the spaceship parts, and indeed completed all but one of them. Nonetheless, in 2048, I wound up two turns shy of the advance before lasers, which were required for the last ship component.

After reducing the Iroquois to only one city in 1814, I had reduced my military down to almost nothing, with no garrisons at all, in order to focus funding on science. And I converted a fair number of citizens to scientists, and spent down my budget surplus. Still no success. Perhaps one of the scientific civs, such as the Germans, would have a better chance at the spaceship, given that they get a free advance at the start of every age. But it would be sad to have to play the Germans because, as everyone knows, there's no point in living if you're not an American.

Sometimes the ranking announcements don't mean much. In one Warlord-level game, I was listed as the happiest civilization. But a short while later, two of my cities defected in the same turn.

If another civ offers to trade you something for something, make a counter proposal, drop off the thing they offered, and use the "What will you offer us for..." option. Usually they will sweeten the pot.

There seems to be a bug in the game. If you reach a deal with another power that they're likely to accept, and then you add on a gold-per-turn component, that you'll pay over and above the amount they asked for, they can go from being ready for the deal to "They'd never accept such a deal."

C3C WarlordI played a Warlord-level game in Civilization 3 Complete, and scored a points victory. I came close to a domination victory. Warlord in this version seemed a bit more like Chieftain level. Science was slow, but I was the most powerful civ in all respects.

I have reconciled myself to abandoning the Civ II definition of victory (space or conquest only), to accept the C3 definition whereby a point win is good enough. They have made C3 harder, so a points win is worthy too.

C3C Regent

I had played several regent-level games in Civilization 3 Complete, (usually on small maps) and always did quite well and then got smacked.

I played a Regent-level game on a small map, and things went well. I was the English by random chance and quickly eliminated the Germans who started on my island. I had a brief war with the Dutch when they tried to build on my island, and got Spain and China to come in against them. I was going to get nowhere against the Dutch, given that they had iron and I didn't. The Dutch, Chinese and Spanish were all on one nearby island, which cramped them. I accepted peace from the Dutch, which infuriated Spain and China. Spain had only three cities, because they were cramped in. I was told that I had a strong military compared to all other powers. I didn't suffer any city defections, which was incredibly lucky, given that everyone disdained my culture. I attacked and eliminated Spain in a long war using archers. I was building up for a dicey attack on the Dutch iron when I found some iron on an uninhabited island, and built a city and port. No need for war. I found two more iron on other islands and built on those. By this time I had gunpowder and saltpeter. The Chinese built a city on my home island, so I had a war with them in which I zapped the new colony and they lost a good-sized, iron-and-saltpeter-bearing island to me, which I filled with cities. Weirdly, things were still going well. So I built up my forces and attacked the Chinese city they'd taken from the Dutch, containing the Knights Templar wonder. Boy I tell ya, never do that! I lost all my attackers, and the city they came from, because the Crusaders were just so numerous. So then I cheated by rolling back to an auto-saved game. I cheated. Continuing with the rollback game, the Chinese built a city on one of my islands, providing an excellent causus belli. I retracted my attack force near the Knight Templar city (The Hague) to my own city, and stole two of their workers to kick off the war. 14 enemy units poured forth from The Hague, and my plan was to allow them to attack me, and then take The Hague. They still eliminated all my musketmen defenders in their first attack, so I cheated again, rolling it back and bringing in more defenders. They still captured my OTHER city, so I cheated yet again by rolling back and beefing up some more. the Chinese this time went through the Netherlands by agreement to come at me on the Spanish cities I owned. This may indicate that the AI takes a different approach each time you roll back. Then the Dutch declared war on me. The game, which up till then had been too easy, reasserted its usual nature. I took The Hague and Knight Templar, plus I squished two new Chinese colonies. Those Crusaders are nasty at 5-3-1. I made peace with China but the Dutch held out. By 1800 the other three powers all had mutual defense pacts. Being ahead on points, I thought I had a chance at my first regent-level win. Unwilling to take on all three other powers, I decided to build defensive strength and shop the units (uncluding crusaders) our to the remote islands, and wait for the attack. My score was 683 versus the Chinese 480 in the year 1800. Amazingly, I discovered a good-sized, fertile unoccupied island, and started colonizing it. The Chinese and Dutch immediately arrived to do the same. By 1818 my score was 713 versus 488 for China, so my lead appeared to be increasing. In 1900 the Chinese attacked. They took a small city on my home island. I got it back, plus the one they'd built. In 1930 the Dutch attacked me, but China agreed to peace. In 1934 the Greeks come in against me. In 1962 China came back in against me. By 1969 I had taken Rotterdam and was getting ready to take Amsterdam, but the Dutch had infantry, and I didn't. I decided to reserach fascism, then convert. I had 967 points to China's 555, so I was still pulling away. By 1973 I was at peace with Greece and the Netherlands. In 1974 we were at 979 versus the Chinese 557. We traded refining to the Dutch for replaceable parts -- which allows infantry. In 1981 we began the conversion to fascism, which was predicted to take five years, and the Greeks attacked us. By 1986 I had converted to fascism and taken the population hit. My score was 1007 versus the Chinese 563. In 1996 things were still looking good for a points win. In 2017 the Dutch came in against me. In 2028 I got all three enemies to agree peace with me. I think they had war weariness. By 2037 our lead had increased to 1122 versus 584. The Greeks were making a play for a culture win but were only half the way there. In 2050 I was declared the winner.

I'm surprised that this didn't occur to me before, but if you are going to run privateers (better group several together given how weak they are) -- you should shelter them with your flagged vessels. Move them in a stack and have the privateers attack from the shelter of the stack. That way, you're less likely to lose them in the counterattack.

My next few C3C regent-level games were duds. In one I was India, on a small island twice the range of a galley from the big islands where the other civs were. I lost two loaded galleys trying to get there. In another game I was Portugal on a large continent with all the other powers. I might have held my own but I quit due to ugly geology. I started one or two others that were duds for various reasons, e.g. starting as india on a tiny island, in a desert next to a volcano and jungles.

Then I started as Persia on a decent island, and managed to start colonies off-island. The Mayans were ahead by 410 to my 356 in 780 AD (delta = 54). In 790 with the score 418 to 361 (delta = 57) the Mayans made a demand we refused, and they declared war. For 550 gold I got the Byzantines and Carthage to come in against Maya. Those dromons may sink some Mayan galleys. They were said to have a strong military compared to ours. We sank two of their galleys for a loss of one. In 860 their score was 440 to our 377 (delta = 63). But the temple of Zeus which produces free units was about to come online, and we had a plan to take one (or two) of their colonies. One small problem is that I have no iron anywhere. The only iron I see is owned by my ally Carthage. By 1000 we are considered militarily on par with the Maya. Carthage backs out of the alliance but I give the Byzantines Engineering to stay in it. By 1110 The Byzantines made peace with the Maya. Our plan was to send a settler and some defensive and offensive units on a bunch of galleys down to Maya land and build a city on some iron that we don't know see but might find. I destroyed one of their new colonies on a colony island of mine. In 1140 with my fleet of four galleys on the way, they landed a javelin thrower next to a colony which had only a spearman, and asked for peace. I agree. Oddly, my cities went into disorder. We scooted down the Mayan coast, each time being automatically moved somewhere further along, and then in 1230 located some iron (unfortunately right next to a Mayan city), landed the force, and declared war. In 1250 the ancient cavalry take the city of Tikal (the one next to the iron) and the great news is that Tikal has a harbor! So we are exporting iron everywhere that has a harbor, which is virtually everywhere. But even though I had harbors, I was not allowed to build units requiring iron. I think this is because the sea route home is completely sealed off by the influence zone of other powers. In 1300, after they took the city I built, the Mayans accepted peace AND gave me monotheism. Weird.

If you dump a settler and defender in someone's territory and they insist on them being moved, they may get moved to an empty spot on someone else's island. Neat. It seems like auto-move could be a useful tool in the early exploration phase of the game ... so long as you can position your unit dump so that a return to your lands is a longer trip. This method can also be used to reinforce a city.

I used this technique in 1345 to reinforce Tikal with four units. I sailed down the Mayan coast to a point 8 spaces south of my nearest land, and dumped off some units. The were automatically transported to Tikal, seven spaces away.

If you build a wonder which creates free units, build a barracks in the city and the units will come out as veterans.

The Dutch and the Byzantines both started Knights Templar before I did and will likely finish it first, so I planned to load up all my offensive power on galleys and take the city as soon as it's complete. I learned from my first regent win how essential this wonder is. In 1440 the Dutch completed it in Utrecht. I paid 175g to get a ROP agreement and launched my invasion fleet. In 1505 I capture Utrecht and the Knights Templar, while the Dutch take an obscure colony I had. I took one of their colonies and in 1530 they agreed to peace.

It turns out that crusaders do cost maintenance. I disbanded one and my net gold per turn increased.

So that means you either have to use them to replace the spearmen, or disband them towards improvements.

By 1725 I was still about 102 points behind the Maya. My military was called average compared to theirs, but strong compared to all others. I had engaged in a sordid little war to push Carthage off my home island and grab one of their colonies. I decided that to increase my score, I should attack the Dutch, using all those Crusaders, with the objectives of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. By 1780 we had taken Rotterdam and come close to taking Amsterdam, and the Dutch sued for peace, giving us Navigation and 1g per turn. By 1814 my interminable war with the Dutch was painful, but on points I had snuck up to within 70 of the Maya. The Dutch and Maya signed an MPP and went against the Byzantines. In 1872 I had been at peace (again) with the Dutch for a while an began the conversion to democracy. I had a huge force I hoped sufficient to at last take Amsterdam. I decided to attack during the anarchy instead of after. In 1882 we took Amsterdam. The Dutch and Maya refused our envoy. I took two major Dutch cities and lost Tikal (the useless iron port) and a remote colony to the Maya. In 1918 I secured peace with the Dutch and the Maya. My score was 937 to the Mayan 953. At this point my strategy became to navigate peacefully to 2050, and have a strong enough defense force to repel any aggressors. They're all democracies or republics anyway, so one would hope that they also face the possibility of war weariness. Science is moving very slowly in this one, so when I got steam power in 1962, I realized that, lacking iron, I could not build railroads. Rails are essential for internal-lines defense, so I decided that I had to attack a city (with clear sea lanes) owned by someone brown -- either Carthage or the Mongols. The other powers were all at war with each other, in tangled groups, so perhaps I could get away with it. If not, then fortunately I was six turns from fascism. As soon as I began assembling a strike force, all the other powers began making peace with each other. No doubt a crucial MPP is in the offing. In 1969 I began the conversion to fascism. That brown city had become Dutch when I too it in 1973 -- but it already had a harbor, which is great. I very cool thing is that when the Dutch got a great leader from our combat, I managed to get a cavalry over there to defeat the rifleman protecting it, and killed it. But still no iron in the strategic resources box. I think I have to build a road on it, even though I am working that square. I'll use the worker I captured while taking the city. That did the trick and I started building rails. I took another nearby iron city from the Dutch. By 1988 my score was 1053 to the Mayan 1015. In 1992 I got peace with the Dutch (and six gold per turn). I was hoping to coast to a win. I built lots of riflemen, upgraded lots of muskets to rifles, shipped rifles out to the colonies, and waited. No one attacked, and at 2050 I won with a score of 1189 to the Mayan 1077.

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Well, I don't know what those othe comments are about but I'd like to comment on the Civ III post.

One of the biggest mistakes I think people make is to buy more expensive military units than they need. For example, do you need many (or any) horseman if you are in a primarily defensive posture? There only real value is their speed. Granted they have a pretty good attack factor but but if you are in a defensive posture, who cares? Their low defense factor makes them a liability. Plus you can't really stack them with units that have higher defense factors because they won't be able to keep up.

And suppose you do want to be more aggressive? Why not use a longbowman? They have the same attack factor and good defensive units can keep up with them.

Another thing to consider is free units. So many people don't capitalize on these. Complete the prerequisites to build the State of Zeus and the Knights Templar and use the units they produce with gay abandon. Hey, they're free. AND they are BAD. A opponent facing Crusaders and Medieval Knights will quickly become demoralized. The only disadvantage to units of this type is that they are no upgradeable (is that a word) but who cares? You don't pay for them and you don't have to pay upkeep on them.

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